Marilyn Monroe – 90th Anniversary, an exhibit featuring photographers such as Andre de Dienes, Bruno Bernard, Nahum Baron and Arnold Newman, is on display at the Galerie Hiltawsky in Berlin until January 14 next year, Hans Schneider reports for BlouArtInfo.
The exhibition Marilyn: I Wanna Be Loved by You opens on October 22 at the Hôtel de Caumont – Centre d’Art in Aix-en-Provence, France. Featuring works by Sam Shaw, Andre de Dienes, Milton Greene, Philippe Halsman, Eve Arnold, Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Ed Feingersh, George Barris, Bert Stern, and others.
Two British photography magazines are currently featuring Marilyn within their pages. Professional Photography, a monthly, looks at Douglas Kirkland’s photos of Marilyn in its July issue. Meanwhile, the weekly Amateur Photographer (issue 09/07/2016), looks at Andre de Dienes’ work with a young Marilyn and other ‘California Girls’, on display until July 30 in New York.
Andre de Dienes: Marilyn and the California Girls – a rare solo retrospective for the European-born, West Coast photographer – will be on display at the Stephen Kasher Gallery in New York from June 9-July 30, reports the British Journal of Photography. As well as his extraordinary work with Marilyn, the exhibit will also showcase De Dienes’ exotic nudes, taken against the spectacular natural backdrop of California’s desert landscape.
Marilyn photographed by Eve Arnold at the East of Eden premiere (1955)
A new article for the Bendigo Advertiser focuses on the importance of photography in Marilyn’s career, and her work with masters of the art such as Andre de Dienes, Eve Arnold, Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon, as featured in the Bendigo Art Gallery’s current exhibition, Twentieth Century Fox Presents Marilyn Monroe.
“THE photographic works included in the current exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery provide an intimate insight into Marilyn Monroe and complement the authentic artefacts, clothing and other objects on display that belonged to, or were worn by, Marilyn.
Photographs from her early life are displayed together with works by renowned photographers such as Eve Arnold and Richard Avedon. From deeply personal and important memories of her childhood to aspects of her various persona and professional incarnations, the medium of photography reveals much about this fascinating subject.
Photography was of great importance to Marilyn throughout her life, revealed by her treasuring of such images and later her manipulation of the medium as her career developed.
Marilyn by Andre de Dienes, 1949
Over the course of just a few years de Dienes captured the transformation from Norma Jeane Dougherty to Marilyn Monroe … Arnold’s photographs show a different side of Marilyn, in that they are unposed and more documentary in style, catching unguarded moments.
Marilyn by Cecil Beaton, 1956Marilyn as Jean Harlow, photographed by Richard Avedon (1958)
Beaton composed a number of distinct sets to create different sittings, all within a suite in New York’s Ambassador Hotel. On display is the image of Monroe widely believed to be her favourite … Avedon created a series showing Marilyn dressed as some of the most celebrated female actors of the twentieth century …”
Marilyn makes the cover of Vanity Fair‘s August issue (French edition only.) If the photo looks familiar, that’s because it was previously used on Vanity Fair‘s US edition, back in October 2008.
And by comparison with Bert Stern’s original photo, you can tell that poor Marilyn has fallen victim to the digital airbrush!
Some fans have suggested that another, more flattering Stern photo could have been used…
The magazine includes an article about Lawrence Schiller’s photos of Marilyn, filming the poolside scene in Something’s Got to Give. As some readers may recall, an extract from Schiller’s book, Marilyn & Me, was published in the US edition of Vanity Fair in June 2012. The French article, however, is written by MM superfan Sebastien Cauchon.
Which begs the question – why wasn’t a Schiller photo used on the cover? Many fans were asking the same question in 2012, when an Andre de Dienes photo was used on the US cover of Vanity Fair, and not Schiller.
The answer, according to Sebastien Cauchon, is that Schiller’s poolside nudes don’t include a full-face, colour shot of Marilyn making eye contact with the camera. Marilyn & Me‘s original cover (later rejected) showed a pensive, full-face shot of MM in a fur hat, on the set of Something’s Got to Give – but not a nude. Presumably Vanity Fair‘s editors felt that a cheerful beach shot from De Dienes – though taken 13 years previously – was more in keeping with the summery, au naturel theme.
And as Sebastien Cauchon explained to members of Immortal Marilyn’s Facebook group this weekend, his article differs from the 2012 extract because its main subject is the proposed Playboy cover shoot Marilyn was considering at the time of her death (though according to Schiller, she was having second thoughts about the project.)
The article includes Hugh Hefner’s letter to Schiller and fellow photographer Bill Woodfield, explaining the concept of the mooted cover – click on the photo below to read in full.
The photo shoot went ahead with model Sheralee Connors taking Marilyn’s place, and was featured in Playboy‘s 1962 Christmas issue.
Marilyn on Tobey Beach, NY, 1949. Photo by Andre de Dienes
Legendary fashion writer Suzy Menkes reports on Christie’s current online sale, ‘The Art of the Pin-Up‘ (including images of Marilyn by Andre de Dienes and Bruno Bernard) for Vogue, noting that the perky innocence of that era is now a thing of the past…
“I can imagine that in the wartime period of hard times, advertising posters with sex appeal brightened the dim streets … Marilyn Monroe in her early days was a curvy young thing on the beach, using her parasol as a support for her pose – bottoms up!
But suddenly, my smile was wiped out by this thought: the cheeky and cheerful images, from an era of playful innocence, looked alarmingly like Miley Cyrus doing her twerking, Beyoncé performing in barely-there outfits of sexual titillation, Kim Kardashian revealing her ever-famous posterior, and Britney Spears sexing up her once teen-girl appearance.
Would I ever buy a pin-up picture? Marilyn in 1949, snapped by Andre de Dienes, might be a cute purchase to enliven my study wall. Although bids can start at £300, Christie’s is putting a starting bid of £1,400 on Marilyn Monroe.
But there is something dispiriting about the idea of Miley and co continuing to distort their bodies as sexual titillation 80 years after Marilyn stepped out on that sandy beach. A century, a millennium and a feminist revolution have happened since then.”
British snooker star Dominic Dale is selling his collection of 32 stunning original prints of Marilyn, including works by Andre de Dienes, George Barris, and the 1952 Frank Powolny shot that inspired Andy Warhol, reports the Shropshire Star. As part of an auction organised by Mullock’s Auctioneers, the sale will take place at Ludlow Racecourse on November 26.
Marilyn by George Barris, 1962
“The individual images could fetch up to £2,500 each when they are auctioned by Mullocks Auctioneers at Ludlow Racecourse, Shrops., in two weeks time.
Richard Westwood-Brookes, historical document expert at the auctioneers, said: ‘These are classic images of Marilyn and are works of high art in their own right.
‘What’s important about these photos is that they all have their photographer’s stamp on the back, so they have come straight from the negative of the image.
‘As a result we are pricing them at £500 estimate each.
‘But judging from the worldwide interest in original photographs such as these of Marilyn we expect that they will make far more.
The set also includes snaps by several other renowned photographers including Joseph Jasgur, Bruno Bernard, Philippe Halsman and Milton H Greene.
Mr Westwood-Brookes added: ‘In addition to the photographs, Dominic’s collection also has some very important books including an extremely rare edition of Marilyn – a Hollywood Farewell by Leigh Wiener with preface by Richard B Stolley.
This was produced in 1990 as a limited edition signed by Wiener and Stolley.
‘Unfortunately Wiener died before he could complete more than a few signings, and the copy we are offering is one of those very few which bear both signatures, together with an autograph dedication from Stolley to Dominic Dale.
‘The collection also contains the definitive books produced by the photographers, which include printed versions of the originals we are offering in the sale, and many other rare and desirable books about Marilyn.’
Snooker ace Dominic, 42, added: ‘It will be sad to see them go but my snooker commitments now call for me to be jetting around the world all the time.
‘I think the time has come for my collection to pass into the hands of other lovers of Marilyn who will cherish them as much as I have done.’
Dominic, whose nickname is ‘The Spaceman’, is one of the top 30 professional snooker champions in the world.”
This 1953 pin-up shot by Bert Reisfield features in a new exhibition at In Focus Gallery in Cologne, Germany, until November 4th. This Marilyn retrospective also includes photographs by Eve Arnold, Andre de Dienes, Elliott Erwitt, Sam Shaw, George Barris, Edward Clark, Bruno Bernard, and Bert Stern.
Public art featuring Marilyn always seems to cause a stir. Just two weeks ago, a mural by Paul Archer, depicting Marilyn between the sheets (inspired by an iconic photo session with Andre de Dienes), was stolen from the wall outside Floyd’s Diner in downtown Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada. But as the Times Colonist reports today, the mural has now been found in a nearby alleyway, with only minor damage.
